NHRA Kurt Johnson Saturday Update: KJ Will Roll Off Tenth at Route 66 Raceway

 

Event:  Fifth Annual Ameriquest Mortgage NHRA Nationals 

Day/Date: Saturday, October 1, 2005

Location:  Route 66 Raceway, Joliet, IL

 

Kurt Johnson and the ACDelco Cobalt Racing team multi-tasked their way
to the tenth starting position at the Ameriquest Mortgage NHRA Nationals
in Joliet, IL.  At the same time that they were trying to earn a
starting spot in Sunday's field, the crew used their four qualifying
attempts to test new set-ups and components in their race car.   This
produced a best elapsed time of 6.687 seconds and a career-best top
speed of 207.30 mph.

 

Although acknowledging that this multifaceted approach might not be the
ideal, Johnson indicated that it was all a part the team's never-ending
search for speed as they look to score their second win at Route 66
Raceway.

 

"We were in a test mode for our first three runs, and although our
numbers were certainly respectable, they certainly were not where we
wanted them to be.  Unfortunately, we're forced to test at a national
event because the weather has just not cooperated when we've tried to
test elsewhere recently.    We know we need to be racing instead of
testing, but we need to pick up in the first sixty feet to be
competitive, and to do that is just a matter of wearing out parts and
pieces.  

 

"We did put our race combination in for our last attempt, and it was
decent.  We know this set-up will race 6.71's consistently and perhaps a
.70 flat, so that is what we will do tomorrow.  We're not going to go
crazy, we're just going to get the optimum out of what we have to work
with here.  We're not going to be testing tomorrow - we're going to be
running down the race track, doing what we can to get our ACDelco Cobalt
to the finish line first.  It's not exactly where we want to be, but we
can win with it.  We should be fine."